System and method for rule-based information routing and participation

ABSTRACT

A system for communicating information between one or more participants of a loop, the one or more participants being associated with a hotel, the system comprising one or more processors configured to initiate a loop in response to receiving an input from a first participant of the loop, the loop being associated with one or more attributes; determine, based on one or more first routing rules, a second participant of the loop; and in response to the determination, provide access to a first portion of information associated with the loop to the second participant.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/904,885, filed Nov. 15, 2013. This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/532,246, filed Nov. 4, 2014, now allowed. This application is a continuation-in-part of prior U.S. application Ser. No. 13/791,482, filed Mar. 8, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,094,282. This application is a continuation-in-part of prior U.S. application Ser. No. 13/728,240, filed Dec. 27, 2012. This application is a continuation-in-part of prior U.S. application Ser. No. 13/458,527, filed Apr. 27, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,943,061; each of the foregoing patent applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed generally to information routing systems, and more particularly, to systems and methods for rule-based information routing and participation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Every day, the people of modern organizations are made aware of, discuss, and resolve issues—a process that inevitably requires communication among specific and contextually appropriate members of that organization. These issues may originate from customers of an organization (external party) and/or employees of an organization (internal party), may include positive or negative feedback, may involve any number of people within the organization or outside of the organization, and may require extensive collaboration to address and/or solve. In all cases of an issue, however, focused communication among identified individuals within the organization can benefit and expedite a resolution of the issue.

For an example of an issue raised by an internal party, an employee could raise a policy issue requiring the participation of other employees and managers regarding a business's operational unit. For an example of an issue raised by an external party, a customer of the organization could raise a customer service issue that requires the attention and participation of employees at a specific location of the organization in addition to management at one or more remote locations (e.g., individuals dispersed geographically).

Modern organizations, such as a modern multi-national corporation or distributed chain, are complex, multi-faceted, and involve stakeholders and/or employees at many levels, with many skillsets, and in many locations. Thus, a need exists for systems that enable rapid resolution of issues in an effective manner by ensuring that relevant participants are involved as needed and are provided with information necessary to facilitate the resolution.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system for communicating information among participants of a loop, the one or more participants being associated with a hotel, the system comprising one or more processors configured to initiate a loop in response to receiving an input from a first participant of the loop, the loop being associated with one or more attributes; determine, based on one or more first routing rules, a second participant of the loop; and in response to the determination, provide access to a first portion of information associated with the loop to the second participant.

A system for communicating information among participants of a loop, the one or more participants being associated with a retail organization, the system comprising one or more processors configured to initiate a loop in response to receiving an input from a first participant of the loop, the loop being associated with one or more attributes; determine, based on one or more first routing rules, a second participant of the loop; and in response to the determination, provide access to a first portion of information associated with the loop to the second participant.

A method for communicating information among participants of a loop, wherein said participants are associated with a hotel, the method comprising, using one or more processors, initiating, by a first participant, a loop associated with one or more attributes; determining, based on one or more first routing rules, a second participant of the loop; and in response to the determining, providing the second participant of the loop with access to a first portion of information associated with the loop.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating logical relationships among primary system elements connecting data and participants of a rule-based information routing system according to some implementations of the present concepts;

FIG. 2 is a system diagram of a customer engagement system using a rule-based information routing and a participation enterprise system and devices according to some implementations of the present concepts;

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of some of the elements of the diagram of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4A shows relationships within the Physical Location facet of Table 1.

FIG. 4B shows relationships within the Department facet of Table 1.

FIG. 4C shows relationships within the Client facet of Table 1.

FIG. 5 shows an example participant profile interface.

FIG. 6 shows an interface that displays available attribute facets according to some implementations of the present concepts.

FIG. 7 shows an interface to create a new loop.

FIG. 8 shows an interface to select notification preferences for a participant according to some implementations of the present concepts.

FIG. 9A shows a flowchart for the initial process for initiating a new loop after an initiator performs a triggering event according to some implementations of the present concepts.

FIG. 9B shows the process flow after the initiation of a new loop and association of independent attributes within the loop according to some implementations of the present concepts.

FIG. 9C is a detailed view of some of the elements of the diagram of FIG. 1 including progression of the process flow shown in FIG. 9B.

FIG. 9D is a flowchart illustrating behavior of a system in response to information available to the system being changed according to some implementations of the present concepts.

FIG. 9E shows a system interface for use in configuring escalation rules based on information available to a system according to some implementations of the present concepts.

FIG. 9F is a detailed view of some of the elements of the diagram of FIG. 1 following the addition of a new independent attribute according to some implementations of the present concepts.

FIG. 9G is a flowchart illustrating a process for determining a set of loops visible to a participant according to some implementations of the present concepts.

FIG. 10 illustrates changes to loop visibility for a participant as the process illustrated in FIG. 9G progresses.

FIGS. 11A and 11B show an example of a flow of participant engagement.

FIG. 12A shows a further example of loop engagement with specific reference to the hotel and hospitality industry.

FIG. 12B shows an example where the user has a choice between submitting a request to a service desk and providing a comment.

FIG. 12C shows an example of a user interface for a user to provide a comment.

FIG. 12D shows an example of a user interface for a user to select an internal location within the hotel.

FIGS. 12E and 12F show examples of user interfaces with a comment field for the guest to add a comment.

FIG. 12G shows an example of an user interface for a guest to thank the hotel and add contact details.

FIG. 12H shows an example of a report showing the status of the various loops associated with the hotel.

FIG. 13A shows a further example of loop engagement with specific reference to the retail industry.

FIGS. 13B-13D show examples of confirmation emails for a user to start the pick up phase.

FIG. 13E shows an example of a smartphone chat window

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Although the present disclosure is described in connection with certain preferred embodiments and/or implementations, it will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to those particular embodiments and/or implementations. On the contrary, the present disclosure is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalent arrangements as may be included within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

The Loop

The present disclosure describes a system and method for routing information among participants of an issue resolution process. The issue resolution process includes (i) initiating a loop, (ii) associating attributes and data to the loop, (iii) identifying participants of the loop using routing rules and associated attributes, (iv) routing information between participants of the issue resolution process, and (v) modifying the routing based on permissions of each participate.

FIG. 1 shows loop 100. The loop 100 is a collection of links (e.g., pointers, references, etc.) to data and/or information (e.g., attributes) stored in one or more memories associated with an issue to be resolved by one or more participants of an issue resolution process. Put another way, the loop 100 is a unification of a plurality of items, such as, for example, attributes and data associated with the loop 100. Additional examples of such items include, but are not limited to:

-   -   data 110 which typically includes message(s) surrounding a topic         of discussion (e.g., an issue) created by an initiator (e.g., a         customer of an organization or an employee of an organization).         These messages can include, for example, written or typed text,         pictures, video, voice, sound clips, microblog updates, links,         or other digital media, similar media, or a combination thereof.     -   conversation strings between participants including responses to         the initiator, internal notes, which might not be visible to the         initiator, actions taken by one or more of the participants,         assignments of action(s) or responsibility from one participant         to another, comments from the initiator, changes to metadata,         responses to specific questions, ratings or star ratings         submitted by the initiator or other participant, and similar         activity concerning the loop becomes additional data 110         associated to the loop 100.     -   logging information, tracking of activity, and data surrounding         these items that becomes additional data 110 associated with the         loop 100.

Metadata referred to herein as attributes 120 is associated with the loop 100. The information (e.g., the customer response ‘Yes’ to a question ‘Was your food hot?’) stored by any attribute 120 may be treated by the system as data 110. Similarly, any data 110 may be treated by the system as an attribute 120. Generally, attributes are pieces of information distinguished based on their use in system behaviour. The loop 100 can also be referred to as a nexus of relationships between data 110, attributes 120, and participants 140. The nature of the relationships is determined by routing rules 130, which connect participants 140 to attributes 120, which are in turn associated with loop 100. Additionally, permissions, which will be explained later, determine the visibility of associated data 110 to participants 140, as shown in FIG. 1. Attributes 120 that are associated with the loop 100 may reference other attributes (e.g., line 129 in FIG. 1) that are also associated with the loop 100 or that are not otherwise associated with the loop 100. In either case, however, attributes 120 that reference other attributes are referred to as derived attributes.

As will be further described below, if a routing rule associated with a participant is satisfied by one or more of the attributes associated with a loop (thus, making those attributes routing attributes), then the loop is visible to the participant. That is, the loop is made available to the participant. The information and/or data associated with the loop will be visible to the participant if allowed by the permissions associated with the data and/or the permissions associated with the participant.

As will also be explained further below, loops are created or initiated by an initiator (e.g., a customer of an organization or an employee of an organization). The initiator may be any individual or third party system wanting to raise a particular issue, such as, for example, asking a question to the organization, making a request of the organization, providing information or feedback to the organization, etc. The issue can be raised and the loop initiated for feedback purposes (e.g., a customer of the organization wants to let the organization they had a wonderful stay in the organization's hotel but the bed was too small); for discussion; to prompt action (e.g., an employee of an organization wants a supervisor to schedule a review to discuss a potential raise for the employee); to initiate a collaborative effort; to request (e.g., a hotel meeting planner customer requests additional food and beverage, and expects confirmation and expedited delivery), and/or to drive staff action or awareness (e.g., data collected from a customer is displayed live on staff mobile phones and a digital scoreboard on-premise). Examples of initiators can be customers, employees, stakeholders, and/or other systems. A loop can also be initiated through various means which will be discussed further below.

Once initiated, a loop is considered open or live, and stays open/live until it is implicitly or explicitly closed, at which point it is said to be closed.

The Implementation System

A system such as, for example, an enterprise system is used to implement one or more loops. FIG. 2 shows an example of an enterprise system 300 to implement one or more loops. Device 310 is for example, a laptop, smartphone, personal computer, tablet, kiosk, in-store display for staff, server or computing device operated by a participant such as a customer, employee or machine. System 311 is, for example, a 3rd party system or an in-house system such as the system of U.S. patent application entitled “System for Extracting Customer Feedback from a Microblog Site,” assigned Ser. No. 13/458,527, filed Apr. 27, 2012, which is commonly owned by the assignee of this application, and which is hereby incorporated by reference herein as if reproduced in its entirety.

Front-end server 301 communicates with devices external to system 300, such as device 310 and system 311. Device 310 and system 311 connect to front-end server 301 over an internal network or an external network, telephone network, local area network, wide area network, personal area network, mesh network, the Internet, or wireless network. For example, a participant using device 310 or system 311 either triggers a loop, or sends messages to other participants by sending information to front-end server 301. Front end server 301 passes information to, and receives information from back-end processing subsystem 302. Back-end processing subsystem 302 performs processing operations related to the loops. Back-end processing subsystem 302 communicates with database 303, where information relevant to the one or more loops implemented by enterprise system 300 is stored. Additionally, when a loop is closed by a participant, back-end processing subsystem 302 indicates to database 303 that the loop is closed. Database 303 stores all information related to the loop, such as, for example, duration of time that the loop was alive, number of participants and who the initiator was. In a further embodiment, one or more ratings can be assigned to the loop via various media.

Back-end processing subsystem 302 connects to notification subsystem 304 to send notifications to participants, or supervisors of participants, as necessary. Various implementations of enterprise system 300 are possible. For example, in one implementation, enterprise system 300 is implemented using a server or servers. In another implementation, it is implemented as a cloud-based implementation. In other implementations, it is implemented in software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

Similarly, various implementations of the components of enterprise system 300, that is, the front-end server 301, back-end processing subsystem 302, notification subsystem 304 and database 303 are possible. In one implementation, these components are implemented using a server or servers. In another implementation, these components are implemented using a cloud-based implementation. In other implementations, these components are implemented in software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

The back-end processing subsystem 302, as previously explained, also stores all relevant information related to the loop in the database 303 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 3. This information includes but is not limited to one or more of the following: participants, participant profiles, attributes, routing attributes, routing rules used, routing tables, reverse lookup tables and visibility information.

In a further implementation, a subsystem within a system used to implement the loop, such as back-end processing subsystem 302 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 3, monitors statistics related to the loop, including, but not limited to:

-   -   Time that the loop has been live     -   Attributes and any information related to attributes     -   Routing notes and any information related to routing attributes     -   Number of participants     -   Number of messages within the loop

Then upon closure of the loop, summary statistics are generated by a subsystem within the system used to implement the loop, such as back-end processing subsystem 302 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2. These summary statistics include but are not limited to:

-   -   Time taken for loop to be resolved,     -   Average response time for a loop to be responded to,     -   Number of loops resolved so far by the participant,     -   Outstanding loops for the participant     -   Percentage of total loops involving the participant which have         been resolved

These summary statistics are then stored in a database, such as database 303 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2. This enables a person such as a supervisor of a participant to retrieve historical loop information as necessary to monitor the performance of a participant. For example, the supervisor can create reports or monitor statistics related to a particular participant over a selected period of time, to track the performance of a given participant.

In another implementation, for a given loop, once the participants have been identified, the participants are overlaid on an organizational chart, by a subsystem within the system used to implement the loop, such as back-end processing subsystem 302 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2, to determine who their supervisors are. Then the supervisors are notified of the initiation of the loop by, for example, notification subsystem 304 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 3. At closure of the loop, the supervisors are able to download information relating to the loop which has been stored by database 303 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2. The supervisor is able to, for example, create reports or generate statistics related to a particular participant, or an attribute. This enables the supervisor to monitor the performance of a participant.

In another implementation, the generated statistics can be overlaid with other performance data so as to study operational trends within a particular company. These can then be used by, for example, supervisors to generate performance reviews and monitor the performance of participants.

In yet another embodiment, information surrounding loops can be forwarded to, for example, customer relationship management (CRM) programs such as Salesforce®. Then, for example, data such as loop ratings can be viewed on a per-customer basis and used to monitor performance of, for example, an account manager responsible for a particular customer.

Attributes and Facets

As mentioned above, an attribute can include a piece of loop metadata. Attributes are associated to the routing rules of a participant to drive loop visibility. An attribute may exist as an independent piece of metadata or derive its value from other information available to the system. Other system mechanisms use attributes to provide functions such as reporting, escalation, or hooks for third party systems. A single attribute managed by the system may have zero to many associations at any given time. An attribute may be created, associated, disassociated or destroyed by the system at any time or at any point during the lifecycle of a loop. Examples of the attributes and data associated with a loop include: an initial message (e.g., text message, e-mail, Short Message Service (SMS), web-based message, application based messages, kiosk input, responses to open or closed-form questions, a message sent via API from an external system, etc.) from a customer of an organization or from an employee of an organization, subsequent related messages, metadata associated with the messages (e.g., timestamps, geo-location tags, user-selected tags, user-selected categorization, and others as enumerated below), peripheral data (e.g., third party information concerning the sales performance of that location, historical performance in cleanliness, etc.), and related contextual information (e.g., time zone of the location, history of loops at the location in question, etc.). Supervisors of the participants are able to monitor the performance of participants in resolving the issue. The supervisors are also able to measure performance of participants across multiple loops over a period of time. Finally, a participant of a loop may be a third party device or system interface.

FIG. 3 shows a more detailed view of loop 100. In FIG. 3, attributes 122, 123, 124 and 125 are associated with loop 100.

Attributes can include, but are not limited to, for example:

-   -   analysis of information including sentiment, keywords, or         classification(s) using known analytic methods,     -   physical location(s),     -   location within a building,     -   geo-location information,     -   timestamp(s) of creation, modification, or similar events,     -   department(s),     -   topic category(ies),     -   urgency(ies),     -   state(s) of resolution,     -   event(s) within the system,     -   customer(s),     -   group(s), role(s) or responsibility(ies),     -   participant(s),     -   tags or labels,     -   customer demographic, loyalty, contact, or other information,         and     -   inferences drawn about the current state of the system,     -   inferences drawn from other attributes,     -   the existence of specific associations,     -   system information,     -   third party information.

Attributes can be, for example:

-   -   Independent: An independent attribute is an attribute which is         unrelated to other attributes or other information.     -   Derived: A derived attribute is dependent on other information         including but not limited to the values of other attributes, the         presence of attribute associations in the system, the state of         the system, information available within the system, information         available from a third party system, or combinations of the         previous sources of information. Examples of such derived         attributes include but are not limited to:         -   Logical combinations or rules: For example, assume that             derived attribute D₁ is a combination of attribute A₁,             attribute A₂, and attribute A₃ where R is connected to these             attributes via the Boolean expression D₁=A₁ AND (A₂ OR A₃).             This means that D₁ is TRUE if A₁ and either of A₂ or A₃ is             TRUE; and FALSE otherwise. Then D₁ is a logically-derived             attribute.         -   Inference-based rules about a set of attributes: For             example, assume that the number of total members of the set             of attributes associated with loop L is N and a threshold             N_(T) exists. D₂ is a derived inference-based attribute             whose value is dependent on N relative to N_(T). If N>N_(T),             D₂ is TRUE, otherwise D₂ is FALSE.         -   Inference-based rules about the set of participants: For             example, assume that the set of participants with visibility             to loop L is S and participant ‘Alex’ is A. D₃ is a derived             inference-based attribute whose value is dependent on             whether A∉S, that is, Alex is not an element of S. If A∉S,             D₃ is TRUE, otherwise D₃ is FALSE.         -   Inference-based rules about a particular participant: For             example, D₄ is a derived inference-based attribute which             depends on the number of loops with state=‘open’ and visible             to participant P. If Σ_(loops) (state=‘open’ and visible to             P)>N_(T), then D₄ is TRUE, otherwise D₄ is FALSE.         -   Inference-based rules about the information available to the             system: For example, assume U is an employee participant, S             is a co-worker participant of U in an organizational chart             stored in a database of a system used to implement the loop,             such as database 303 of enterprise system 300, N is the             number of total loops associated with U, M is the number of             total loops associated to S. D₅ is a derived inference-based             attribute, where if N>M, then D₅ is TRUE. Otherwise D₅ is             FALSE.         -   Attributes defined by similar rules that utilize             mathematical operators, logical operators, functions, or             similar operations on information available to the system             including, but not limited to, data lookups, contextual             analysis, human input, dates and time, attributes,             associations, or any information available to the system are             considered derived attributes.

Derivation is implemented via various techniques including, but not limited to, automated techniques such as automated semantic analysis within the system used to implement the loop, such as, for example back-end processing subsystem 302 of FIG. 2; human processing; or by a combination of automated and human techniques.

The association and disassociation of an attribute to a loop may occur explicitly and directly, for example, following a user action to create a loop, or implicitly via rules, for example, as a result of changes to system information. Examples of implicit association are:

-   -   Parent attribute association: For example, assume that A is an         attribute having a parent attribute B and a child attribute C.         If A is associated to loop L, then B shall be associated to L as         a derived parent attribute.     -   Child attribute association: From the previous example, if A is         associated to loop L, then C shall be associated to L as a         derived child attribute of L.     -   Attribute-set association: For example, assume that attribute         set S is composed of attributes {S₁, S₂, . . . S_(N)} and a         subset of S associated with L satisfies criteria C, then S shall         be associated to L as a derived set attribute of L.     -   Existence association: For example, assume that derived         attribute D₂ from the example above exists and is ‘true’ for         loop L, then D₂ shall be associated to loop L as a derived         attribute of L.     -   Rule-based association: For example, attribute D₃ from the         example above shall be associated to loop L only during the         hours of 8 am to 5 pm EST.     -   Event-based association: For example, derived attribute D shall         be associated to loop L upon event E occurring within the         system.

A facet is a set or collection of attributes organized around a common theme or purpose. A facet serves as both an organizational tool for a user of the system and to drive behavior, for example, when associated by a derived attribute. A facet is typically defined by a common category or theme.

The attributes belonging to a facet are, for example:

-   -   unorganized (a simple collection),     -   organized according to different methods in form of a graph,         which include but are not limited to: ordered sets, multi-parent         trees, or directed acyclic graphs.

An attribute may be part of more than one facet. Facets may be orthogonal to one another. Examples of facets and their corresponding attributes are presented in Table 1. In Table 1,

-   -   a tab implies a hierarchical relationship,     -   italics signifies a parent attribute with children, and     -   [brackets] signifies an attribute categorized into more than one         parent

TABLE 1 Facet and Attribute Examples Facet Attribute Example Example Description Physical All Stores These relationships within the “Physical Location Northern Stores Location” facet are depicted in FIG. Kanata 4A. The “Physical Location” facet Nepean shown in FIG. 4A has attributes 200 Eastern Stores including an overall parent attribute 201 Barrie “All Stores”. The overall parent attribute has two children attributes, which are non-overlapping attributes based on region, “Northern Stores” (210) and “Eastern Stores” (211). Each of these attributes have children attributes based on store locations. “Northern Stores” (210) has “Kanata” (220) and “Nepean” (221) as children attributes. “Eastern Stores” (211) has “Barrie” (222) as a child attribute. Department Fresh Goods The relationships in the Department Fish facet are depicted within the collection Meat of attributes 230 of FIG. 4B This facet Packaged has two disjoint trees 231 and 232 and Goods an unconnected attribute 242. Tree 231 Bulk has a parent attribute, “Fresh Goods” Grocery (240) and tree 232 has a parent attribute Executive “Packaged Goods” (241). These parent attributes have children. Fresh Goods 240 has children “Fish” 250 and “Meat” 251. Packaged Goods 241 has children “Bulk” 252 and “Grocery” 253. The Executive attribute 242 is unconnected to the trees 231 and 232 but part of the facet for organizational purposes. Sentiment Good The facet has two attributes - “Good” Bad and “Bad”. There are no parent-child relationships. Client Gold-level The relationships in this example Clients “Client” facet are depicted within A Company attributes 260 of FIG. 4C. FIG. 4C Actively shows an example of attribute ‘Com- Supported pany A’ 270 having two parents, Clients namely the designations ‘Gold-Level [Company A] Clients’ 261 and ‘Actively [Company B] Supported Clients’ 262. ‘Company B’ [Company C] 271 has ‘Actively Supported Clients’ 262 as its only parent, and ‘Company C’ 272 has no parents at all but is included in this facet for organizational reasons. Tags New Store The “Tags” facet contains several Urgent attributes. There are no parent-child Follow-up relationships. Employee Performance Issue

A facet contains attributes from the one or more loops being implemented by a system, such as enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2.

In one implementation, facets are stored in a database of the system used to implement the one or more loops, such as database 303 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2. Then a subsystem within the system used to implement the loop such as back-end processing subsystem 302 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2 retrieves and uses these facets, for example, to consider other attributes for association in a loop.

The Routing Rule

Routing rules are used to determine which attributes are followed by a participant, and consequently whether loops are visible to a specific participant. An attribute is determined to be a routing attribute when it is configured into one or more routing rules, which and is therefore used in routing decisions. Referring to FIG. 3, the routing attributes are 122, 123 and 124 as they are configured into routing rules 131-133. Attribute 125 is not directly associated with any routing rules, and is therefore not determined to be a routing attribute in this state. Configuring routing rules using attributes occurs explicitly, implicitly, or via a combination of explicit and implicit techniques. Similarly, configuration occurs via automated techniques, human techniques or via a combination of human and automated techniques.

Routing attributes which satisfy a participant's routing rule are said to be followed by that participant, that is, when those routing attributes are inputted into the routing rule the output TRUE is returned. If a participant follows a routing attribute which is a part of a loop, then the loop will be visible to the participant. The set of participants for a given loop is determined by a participant's routing rules, the then associated routing attributes, and the then associated loop(s). Participants are associated with, or “follow” routing attributes through routing rules.

For example, referring to FIG. 3, routing attribute 122 satisfies participant 141's routing rule 131. Then participant 141 ‘follows’ routing attribute 122. Since routing attribute 122 is associated to loop 100, therefore loop 100 is visible to participant 141. Similarly participant 142 follows routing attribute 123 through routing rule 132, and routing attribute 123 is part of routing loop 100. Therefore loop 100 is also visible to participant 142. Routing rule 131 directly associates routing attribute 122 to participant 141, whereas routing rule 132 is used by both participants 142 and 143. Unlike routing rule 131 and 132 which both reference only a single attribute, routing rule 133 references two attributes (123 and 124) to derive its value. Similarly, participant 143 references two routing rules to provide loop visibility. As routing rule 133 is satisfied for loop 100 based on the existence of routing attributes 123 and 124, with attribute 124 also deriving its value in part from attribute 125, participant 143 has visibility of loop 100. Attribute 125 is not currently being used for routing purposes, and is therefore determined an attribute 120 and not specifically a routing attribute 121. Collectively loop 100 is considered visible to participants 141, 142, and 143. The data 110 including data 111 and data 112 are therefore visible to participants 140 if said data satisfies the permissions of the respective participant.

Should a change to any attribute, routing rule, or association result in a loop becoming visible to a following participant, then such a participant is said to have gained visibility to that loop.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, participants set routing rules for themselves. In an alternate implementation, routing rules are set by the organization for each participant. In another implementation, routing rules are derived from the groups a participant is in. In another implementation, routing rules are set implicitly. In yet another implementation, routing rules are set explicitly. In yet another implementation, routing rules are set both implicitly and explicitly.

In one implementation, routing rules are stored in a database of the system used to implement the loop, such as database 303 of enterprise system 300. Operations to determine whether a routing attribute satisfies the routing rules of a participant are carried out by a subsystem within the system used to implement the loop, such as back-end processing subsystem 302 of enterprise system 300.

In one implementation, a routing rule is a Boolean function which includes routing attributes as input variables, and logical operations are performed on the routing attributes to determine the value of the function. Using the attributes “Kanata,” “Nepean”, and “Fish” for illustrative purposes, examples of individual routing rules RR1, RR2 and RR3 below are evaluated using Boolean operations:

-   -   RR1: (“Kanata”)—this means that the presence of attribute Kanata         satisfies RR1. Put another way, if the attribute “Kanata” is         associated with an initiated loop, RR1 is satisfied and the         participant 140 associated with RR1 will be granted visibility         to the loop and its associated information and/or data.     -   RR2: (“Kanata” AND “Nepean”)—this means that both attributes         Kanata and Nepean must be present to satisfy RR2.     -   RR3: (“Kanata” AND “Fish” AND NOT “Nepean”)—this means that both         attributes Kanata and Fish must be present, and attribute Nepean         must not be present to satisfy RR3.

In one implementation, a participant has multiple routing rules that are combined into a visibility test to evaluate visibility rights to a given loop using logical operations. A visibility test for a participant using rules RR1, RR2 and RR3 is, for example:

Visibility Test=(RR1)OR(RR2)OR(RR3)

This means that either one of these rules must be satisfied in order for the participant to gain visibility of the data and/or information associated with the loop 100.

In one implementation, the routing rules and associated attributes that a participant follows are stored in a participant profile. FIG. 5 shows an example participant profile interface 700 that includes participant information 701, permissions 710, routing rule subscriptions 720 and 730.

FIG. 5 shows sections 720 and 730 from a web page displayed on, for example, a browser running on device 310 of FIG. 3 for a participant to set routing rules. The client can tick one of the checkboxes 721-728, and each of the checkboxes corresponds to a routing attribute. Routing rule 721 corresponds to following the attribute ‘Store 1001’ which would provide visibility to all loops tagged with the ‘store 1001’ attribute. Similarly for routing rule 722-724. The participant here is following only store 1001 (721) and store 1003 (723). Routing rule 725 corresponds to the independent attribute label ‘URGENT,’ 726 label ‘Food Quality’, 727 the ‘Service’ facet and all related child attributes, and 728 the ‘Menu’ facet and all related child attributes. If the client ticks more than one of the checkboxes, then the rules are Boolean ORed with each other, that is, the rules are evaluated in parallel and used collectively to determine loop visibility.

Section 730 of FIG. 5 shows the assignment of more complex routing rules participant 701. The routing rules in 730 capture, for example: any loops with an ‘URGENT’ tag and who have a child attribute or the Northern Stores facet (731); loops with a tag from the ‘Store’ facet and which today have seen the creation of more than 5 loops (732); loops with no participants associated via an ‘owner’ attribute (733); loops wherein the ‘message’ data contains keyword ‘Billy Goat’ (734); loops whereby a remote customer relationship management (CRM) system reports the associated loop initiator is also a platinum customer (735); loops with a ‘BAD’ tag attribute and whereby a remote database reports the loop initiator a Gold-level client (736); loops where the latitude/longitude attributes fall within a geographic virtual fence defined by a 20-miles radial arc around a fixed location (737); loops in which one of the associated data elements is of type photo (738); loops in which an external social media engine reports ‘retweeting’ or ‘reposting’ of comments online (739); and loops in which the associated independent attributes of the category facet number more than 10 (740). Selected complex subscriptions 730 are similarly ORed together with other enabled routing rules.

In another implementation, the routing rules that a participant follows are stored as references from the participant's profile to those routing rules, and respective opposite references from those routing rules to the participant's profile. For example, referring to FIG. 3, the participant profile for participant 142 includes routing attribute 123 via routing rule 132. In one implementation, the participant profile is stored in a database of the system used to implement the loop, such as database 303 of enterprise system 300.

In one implementation, information on which attributes are configured into routing rules are stored by the system used to implement the loop in, for example, database 303 of enterprise system 300 in FIG. 3.

In one implementation, routing rules are assigned to a participant 759 via a hierarchical interface 750 that displays available attribute facets as shown in FIG. 6. In this case, facets include a “Target” facet 751 with a single visible attribute “Jacob K. Javits Center” 752. That attribute 752 is checked indicated participant 759 has a routing rule that is “following” said attribute. Similarly, a tree facet 753 with root attribute “Happy” contains a three sub-trees “Organizer” 754, “Presentation”, and “Venue” 756. Participant 759 is “following” attribute “Exhibit Hours” 755, “Size of Venue” 757, and “Other” 758. Based on these assigned routing rules 750 and the participant's 759 permissions, loops associated with one or more ‘checked’ attributes will be visible to said participant.

The Participant

A participant is, for example, a user, a remote system, a third party device, or a similar external entity with visibility of a particular loop. Referring to FIG. 1, visibility of a loop by a particular participant is determined through the connections between a loop 100, its attributes 120, and the routing rules 130 associated to the participants 140.

FIG. 3 shows the connections between participants 140 and loop 100, data 110, attributes 120 and routing rules 130. The loop 100 has participants 140 consisting of individuals 141, 142 and 143. A participant includes, but is not limited to, an individual, a 3rd party system, or a group of individuals. Participants may become associated to the loop upon its creation, or may become associated at any future time based on changes made to the loop.

An initiator is the participant that originally triggered the loop. In FIG. 3, the initiator of loop 100 is participant 141. The initiator may be any individual or third party system, for example, a visitor, a customer, an employee, an investor, a supervisor, a manager, a third party system or remote device. A loop is triggered by an initiator wanting to raise a particular message or topic for information, for feedback or for discussion. In one embodiment, a loop is triggered directly by an initiator, that is, where the initiator is unassisted. In another embodiment, a loop is triggered indirectly, that is, the initiator triggers the loop with the assistance of another person, for example, an employee. In the case of indirect initiation, a loop can be initiated passively, that is, where a person creates the loop only at the behest of an initiator; or proactively, that is, where a person notices an issue the initiator would have created a loop for but has not yet created the loop.

A loop can also be initiated by a SMS/MMS message, an email message, a transcribed hand-written message, visiting a URL (going to a URL automatically initiates a loop, no other inputs required), a website form submission, a microblog update message from a social networking site, such as, for example, Facebook® or Twitter®, a voice message from a call in number, a video message, a machine interface, through an API, or similar forms. These messages may contain text, images, audio, video, documents and other file formats.

If the initiator 141 uses an SMS message to initiate a loop, in one implementation, the initiator sends an SMS message to a generic phone number. The initiator then goes through a simple interactive response flow (for example, via SMS messages) to define the attributes and facets such as location. For example, the system may send the initiator a return SMS message reading “Reply 1 for downtown store, 2 for Broadway store.” The initiator can then send a reply to specify the option, and the relevant information is passed to the system to initiate the loop. In another implementation, the system may reply “Please visit example.com/1234 to select your location.” The initiator can then use the specified website to indicate the location and issues faced, and the relevant information is passed to the system. In another implementation, the initiator sends an SMS message to a pre-defined phone number, which may be tied to one or more attributes and facets such as specific locations and/or specific issues. Then when the user sends the SMS, this information is added to the SMS and forwarded to the system to initiate the loop. In one embodiment, attributes and facets are preselected based on the initiator's phone number, the time of the day, and other similar contextual information.

In another implementation, as described above the initiator 141 can use an email message to initiate a loop. Similar to the SMS message implementation described above, the initiator may send an email to a generic email address and/or a specific email address to initiate the loop. Similarly, the system may send an email reply to the initiator directing the initiator to a web site.

In another implementation, the initiator 141 initiates a loop by creating a microblog update on a social networking site, such as, for example, Facebook®, Twitter®, LinkedIn® or Pinterest®. In one implementation, a system such as that described in reference to FIG. 1 of U.S. patent application entitled “System for Extracting Customer Feedback from a Microblog Site,” assigned Ser. No. 13/458,527, filed Apr. 27, 2012, which is commonly owned by the assignee of this application, and which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, can be used to identify and act on actionable microblog updates. Similar to FIG. 1 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/458,527, this process includes four stages: retrieval, filter, learning, classification and action.

In the retrieval stage of the process, microblog updates matching a certain retrieval criteria are captured. The retrieval criteria can include messages containing designated keywords posted by a microblogger, messages with location metadata information (e.g., especially ones that are at or close to known locations that are of interests to the businesses) or messages with other multimedia information attached. The microblog updates could come from, for example, a direct feed from the social networking site, or by “scraping” updates from the social networking site.

In the filter stage of the process, at least one criterion can be used to remove irrelevant microblog updates and “spam.” After filtering, the filtered microblog updates are then moved to the learning stage of the process, where prioritization takes place. In the prioritization process, a probability is assigned to the microblog update to indicate the confidence that the microblog update is actionable. Based on this probability, a priority can be assigned to the microblog update. Prioritization is carried out based on at least one prioritization criterion, such as popularity of the microblogger; influence of the microblogger; time differential between the event and the microblog update posted as a consequence of the event which caused the concern; and geographical proximity of the microblogger to the business where the event took place.

The prioritized microblog updates are then moved into the classification stage of the process, where microblog updates are classified as actionable or not. Classification may be partially implemented using, for example, a website such as that shown in the section titled “Detailed Description of the Classification Stage” and in FIGS. 2-9 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/458,527, which was previously incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Finally actionable microblog updates from the classification stage are directed to the action stage of the process, where these microblog updates are acted upon. A similar process can be applied to reviews from websites, such as, for example, Yelp®, TripAdvisor®, etc.

In another implementation, the initiator 141 can send a chat message to a chat client using instant messaging software, such as, for example, WhatsApp®, Google® Talk®, BlackBerry® Messenger or Skype® utilizing protocols such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XIVIPP), and other communication protocols. This chat message can be used to initiate a loop.

As explained above, in another implementation, the initiator 141 can initiate a loop by calling a call-in number and leaving a voice message. Then, a loop can be created automatically using, for example, speech-to-text conversion technology. Alternatively, the received call and/or voice message can be delegated to a call center to create a loop on behalf of the initiator. Similar to the email and SMS message implementations described herein, an initiator can call a generic phone number or a specific phone number. In the latter case, some attributes and facets may be preselected based on the number used and automatically included when the loop is initiated. Attributes and facets can also be preselected based on the caller ID, the time of the day, and other similar contextual information.

In another implementation, the initiator 141 can initiate a loop by calling a call-in number and engaging with an interactive voice response (IVR) system. In one embodiment, the number is generic, and the initiator has to select the location and or issue using, for example, a touch-tone phone. In another embodiment, the number is specific to the location. In such embodiments, for example, the initiator is directed to an appropriate operator who initiates the loop on behalf of the initiator.

In another implementation, the initiator 141 can send a video message or start a video conference. The video message or video conference can be used to initiate a loop. Additional metadata and contextual information related to the video message or video conference can be used to pre-select attributes and facets for the loop.

A loop is initiated, for example:

-   -   By a customer, to         -   Provide feedback.         -   Issue service request and track closure.         -   Raise issues, such as customer service or safety issues.         -   Praise employees for outstanding work.     -   By an employee, to         -   Initiate an action or discussion between staff internally.         -   raise issues or seek information from the organization.     -   By an individual needing to, for example, communicate with an         organization without necessarily having awareness of specific         individuals (and their respective contact emails, addresses, or         phone numbers) within an organization.     -   By an individual or system, for example, to initiative a         collaborative effort or discussion between participants on a         particular topic or issue, where the participants are associated         by common purpose but are not necessarily associated through a         common, business, corporation, or organization.     -   By a system, to drive staff action or awareness. For example, in         one implementation, a system is pre-programmed to trigger a loop         in response to a customer providing negative feedback. In         another example, a system monitoring the public internet for         pertinent information is pre-programmed to, upon detection of         such information, trigger a loop to involve appropriate staff         members to discuss and act on this information.

In one implementation, initiator 141 can initiate a loop from a web interface such as section 799 of FIG. 7. In another implementation, the initiator 141 defines loop data 110 and attributes 120, by, for example, indicating appropriate data on an optional section of the same web page as section 799 of FIG. 7, or on a web page linked to section 799 of FIG. 7. The web page is displayed on a web browser running on device, for example, device 310 of FIG. 2. The initiator 141 uses the web page to send instructions to enterprise system 300 to configure attributes into routing rules via front-end server 301. The web interface may reside, for example, on a generic website or on a website with a predefined Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that contains encoded attribute information. In the case of the generic website, the user selects attributes such as specific issues and the location corresponding to that of a store or outlet. In the case of the website with a predefined URL, the web interface may already contain some preselected attributes and facets, some of which can be displayed to the user. In some implementations, visiting the predefined URL initiates the loop automatically with predefined attributes and facets without requiring any additional input from the initiator 141.

In another implementation, an initiator 141 may initiate a loop by scanning a two-dimensional barcode (for example, a QR code) using a mobile device such as a smartphone or a tablet (for example by using an application on the smartphone or a tablet or using a built-in camera of the smartphone or a tablet), which then takes the initiator to the generic website or the website with a predefined URL. In the case of a generic website being used, the initiator can provide additional information on the website. In the case of a predefined URL being used, some attributes and facets are preselected. In some implementations, visiting a predefined URL via QR code initiates the loop automatically. Alternatively, the initiator 141 may use other similar communication protocols employing, for example, near field communication (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID) or Bluetooth, to take the initiator to the generic website of the website with a predefined URL.

In some implementations, an initiator 141 initiates a loop using an application or “app” running on a mobile device running one of Apple® iOS®, Android® or other mobile operating system.

Permissions and Preferences

As described above, visibility of a loop for a participant is based on attributes and routing rules. In addition to granting visibility based on satisfying routing rules, permissions associated with a participant can drive visibility to the data and/or the information associated with a loop. For example, a participant's notification preferences (e.g., permissions) can be used to change what would otherwise be visible to the participant.

Permissions for a participant include but are not limited to data visibility permissions, action permissions and reassign permissions. Action permissions control a participant's ability to

-   -   add,     -   modify, or     -   remove data or attributes from the loop.

Examples of action permissions include:

-   -   Create permission—enables creation of new loops     -   Administration permission—enables changes to system         configuration     -   Comment permission—allows new data of the ‘public comment’ type         to be created and linked to the loop     -   Close permission—allows the closing of loops     -   Internal permission—allows new data of the ‘internal note’ type         to be created and linked to said loop.

Data visibility permissions control, a participant's ability to, for example,

-   -   view data in a loop,     -   be allowed to receive notifications of changes to data of a         loop. For example, in FIG. 1 participant 142 with visibility to         loop 100 would require appropriate data visibility permissions         to view data 111 and 112, and similarly would require action         permissions to modify said data or add new data. As an example,         if a message was sent out by a participant in a loop to one or         more participants, and the intended recipients read the message,         then a “read receipt” message is recorded in the loop which can         be viewed by the sender.     -   reassign permissions allow associations with routing attributes         to be viewed, added or removed from said loop.

In one implementation, every piece of data in the loop has both action and data visibility permissions attached to it when it is created. For example, if someone writes a new message, both action and data visibility permissions are attached to the message, to control who can view it, modify it after creation, remove it and add to it. In another example, if 3 high level managers within a loop wanted to talk about something in the loop, but only among themselves, then they would create messages and set data visibility permissions for these messages so that only the other high level managers could view it or receive notifications.

In another implementation, a type of data may have the same permission attached to it, and when a new piece of data of the same type is added, this piece of data has the same permission as the rest of the data with the same type. For example, an administrator has permission to view all participant profiles. If a new participant joins the loop, then the administrator has permission to view the new participant's profile.

If a new loop is created with new attributes and participants, new data will be created including information about the loop, such as participants, number of participants, attributes, time open, time closed, routing map, routing tables etc. This new data has action and data visibility will then have permissions attached to it.

In another implementation, the data and visibility permissions are attached to the participants 140 and based on properties of the data 110 rights to specific data are determined at that time.

Permissions are used in conjunction with routing attributes and notification settings for routing messages and other data. In one implementation, permissions are logical Boolean operations with routing attributes as inputs. Then when a new message is created, a Boolean expression representing permission for the message is connected. For example, a message is connected to a data visibility permission in the form of a Boolean operation which reads (HIGH LEVEL AND (KANATA OR NEPEAN)), meaning that only a high level employee in either Kanata or Nepean can read it.

In another implementation, actions and data visibility permissions are combined. For example, when a message is created, a permission which reads (HIGH LEVEL AND (NOT WRITE) AND (KANATA OR NEPEAN)), meaning that only a high level employee in either Kanata or Nepean can read it, but no one can modify it.

Notification preferences of a participant 140 control how changes within the system are communicated to said participant. Changes within the system include creation of new loops, changes to associations (data, loop, attribute, routing rule, or participant associations), addition or removal of data to a loop, changes to 3rd party data or information, changes enacted by an user or system, when participants read a message that has been sent out, and changes to any information controlled by or referenced by the system. In a typical configuration, the system will notify the participant of relevant changes to any loop visible to that participant based on that participant's notification preferences.

In one implementation, permissions are assigned to a participant through a checkbox interface as depicted in section 710 of FIG. 5. For the selected participant, the create permission 711 enables creation of new loops and the administration permission 714 enables changes to system 311 configuration. In the context of any loop visible to the participant, the reassign permission 712 allows associations to routing attributes be viewed, added or removed from said loop, the comment permission 713 allows new data of the ‘public comment’ type to be created and linked to said loop, the close permission 715 allows the assignment of independent attribute ‘state closed’ to said loop, and the internal permission 716 allows new data of the ‘internal note’ type to be created and linked to said loop. Permissions can be explicitly assigned, implicitly assigned based on participant role or similar, or a combination of explicitly and implicitly assigned.

In one implementation as shown in FIG. 8, notification preferences for the participant can be selected using interface 760. Preferences are selected by checkbox in a grid 770 based on media and event type. For visible loops, the participant will receive SMS (771), email (772), and will not receive app alerts upon new loop creation (773); will receive email alerts upon customer comment (774), will receive both email and SMS alerts for internal comments (775), will receive only app alerts upon escalation or reassignment (776), and will receive only email and app alerts upon closure of a loop (777). Additional media for alerts beyond SMS, email, and app alerts include phone calls, computer popup alerts, land-mobile radio alerts, paging messages, social media alerts, and other forms of messaging to the individual. Notifications can be sent out, for example, by notification subsystem 304 of FIG. 2. Similarly, status of such a subsystem 304 and controls to activate features of such a subsystem 304 can be displayed on the participant's profile interface 760.

Initiating a New Loop

FIG. 9A shows a flowchart for the initial process for initiating a new loop after an initiator performs a triggering event, for example, sending a triggering message, with reference to enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2. As explained previously, in a further implementation, a loop is triggered as part of the action of a larger subsystem, such as, the system of the patent titled “System for Extracting Customer Feedback from a Microblog Site”, assigned Ser. No. 13/458,527, filed Apr. 27, 2012 to Du et al. For example, as part of action stage 111 of FIG. 1 of this incorporated system, a loop is triggered by an employee, the microblogger who reported the concern, or a separate internal system. In step 400, in one implementation, a new loop is created using an interface similar to interface 799 of FIG. 7. Other methods to initiate a new loop are discussed herein.

In steps 401 and 402, the data and independent attributes of the loop respectively are included by a subsystem of a system used to implement the loop, for example, back-end processing subsystem 302 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2, and stored in database 303 of FIG. 2. In another implementation, independent attributes are included by a participant, a supervisor or an external system. The set of independent attributes are denoted as set A₁.

On creation of a new loop, attributes and routing rules are used to establish which participants have visibility to said loop and notifications are sent to all visible participants respecting individual notification preferences. Any participant with loop visibility is then able to modify the data of said loop (for example, add a comment to or change an attribute of said loop) provided the action is allowed based on their action permissions. Upon recording the modification to the loop, the system in turn updates the necessary attributes, reassesses loop visibility (as necessary), and notifies all participants again respecting individual notification preferences.

Derivation of Attributes, Determination of Visibility, Routing Rules, Participants

FIG. 9B captures the process flow after the initiation of a new loop and association of independent attributes with the loop. It also captures the process flow for a situation in which a system, based on a change in the information available to the system, computes the changes to system data and loop associations that ultimately drive loop visibility and notifications to participants. Examples of information available to the system include, for example, external data from a third party system such as system 311 of FIG. 3; external data from a device 310; changes to the system or an available database 303; the system time; any attribute stored within the system; any newly updated, created, or removed associations within the system; changes to external data 128; an inbound event received or status change of the notification subsystem 304; and similar. FIG. 9C displays an example loop 500 with associated data 510 and illustrates how changing attributes affects loop visibility pursuant to the flow outlined herein.

In step 421 as shown in FIG. 9B, derived attributes are computed and associations are created, updated, or removed based on the information available to the system (including information about the independent attributes of said loop). This set of updated derived attributes is added to set A₁. Methods to create derived attributes from the independent attributes have been previously explained above. If the process shown in FIG. 9B is being used after a change in the information available to the system, then any necessary additional independent attributes which need to be associated with the loop are associated in this step.

In one implementation, in step 421 facets are used to determine if more independent and/or derived attributes should be included and stored. For example, if some of the independent attributes in a facet are already included in the loop, then the facet is retrieved from, for example, database 303 of FIG. 3 and other independent attributes within the facet are considered for inclusion with the loop by, for example, back-end processing subsystem 302 of FIG. 3.

In step 422, firstly all loops that are associated (directly or indirectly) with any attribute in set A₁ are identified (call these loops set L). Secondly, all attributes associated (directly or indirectly) with the loops of set L are identified (call this wider set of attributes set A₂. It should be noted that A₁ will be a subset of A₂). This set A₂ contains all attributes that may drive visibility.

In step 423, all routing rules that reference one or more attributes of set A₂ are identified (call this set R). Each routing rule in set R is re-evaluated based on the recently updated attributes A₂ any and additional attributes referenced by the rule (call the even greater set of attributes here A₃, which is the collective set of all ‘routing attributes’ used by the routing rules in set R). This process is handled by, for example, back-end processing subsystem 302 of FIG. 3.

In step 424, for each given routing rule of set R, all participants associated to this rule are identified (call this set P₁). This process is handled by, for example, back-end processing subsystem 302 of FIG. 3.

In step 425, the routing rules which evaluate to TRUE for the loop given the attribute associations of the loop, is identified. Also, for each participant in set P₁, their respective notification preferences and permissions are evaluated. The subset of the participants in set P₁ who follow one of the routing rules which evaluate to TRUE and have appropriate permissions are identified. This subset is denoted as set P₂, and the participants in set P₂ are determined to be followers of the loops in L, that is these participants have visibility of the loops in L. In one implementation, a visibility test is used by, for example, back-end processing subsystem 302 of FIG. 3, to determine whether a participant will gain visibility to the loop.

In a further implementation, all routing attributes and their respective associations are stored explicitly. Similarly, all routing rules and combinations of attributes are stored explicitly. This design was selected specifically to provide for an O(1) operational runtime requirement for both lookups defined above. This could pose a problem as the storage space requirements could be onerous.

To minimize this impact however, the system implements both ‘lazy-storage’ and ‘smart pointer’ concepts for routing attributes and routing rules. Only routing attributes and routing rules that are actively used to make connections between routing attributes and participants in the routing map are stored in the database, and where a routing attribute or routing rule are shared they are only stored once.

In one implementation, a further optional step 425A is carried out: Routing attributes and associated routing rules are “lazy loaded” by, for example, back-end processing subsystem 302 of FIG. 3. Under lazy loading, the routing attribute and routing rules are stored in a routing table in, for example, database 303 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 3, only if there are one or more followers. Therefore, the routing rules identified in step 425, the associated attributes and the participants are stored in a routing table. An example of routing tables under lazy loading is presented later.

In another implementation, a reverse lookup table which shows which routing attributes and routing rules each participant follows in the loop is also created by, for example, back-end processing subsystem 302 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 3 and stored by, for example, database 303 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 3.

In step 426, for each participant in set P2 their notification preferences are retrieved and evaluated. Where appropriate based on permissions, notifications are sent to each participant of set P₂ regarding the appropriate loops of set L to which visibility has changed. In one implementation, notifications are sent by, for example, notification subsystem 304 of FIG. 3. Following step 426, the process jumps to step 440 to indicate a change in information available to the system.

To illustrate determination of visibility, shown in FIG. 9C is loop 500 with data 510 (includes, for example, a text message 511 and initial comment 512); independent attributes 510 including attributes 511, 512, and 513; derived attributes 520 including derived attributes 521, 522, and 523; routing rules 530 including rules 531, 532, 533, and 534; participants 540 including the initiator 541, participants 542, 543, and 544; and an indication of visibility 590. Scope markers 550 including 551, 552, 553, 554, and 555 correspond to the above described flow as depicted in FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B and correspond as follows:

-   -   Scope marker 551 captures steps 400 and 401 wherein a new loop         500 is created and initially only data 510 is associated with         the loop.     -   Scope marker 552 captures step 402 wherein the independent         attributes 511, 512, and 513 are first associated with the loop.         Following the process outlined above, set A₁ contains the         following members: independent attributes 511, 512 and 513.     -   Scope marker 553 captures step 421 wherein the derived         attributes 521 and 523 are computed using the independent         attributes 510 and external information. In one implementation,         the external information may be obtained from back-end         processing subsystem 302. Thus, following the process outlined         above, set A₁ is updated to contain the following members:         independent attributes 511, 512 and 513; and derived attributes         521 and 523.     -   Scope marker 554 captures step 422 and 423. In step 422, only         loop 500 is identified as associated with the attributes in set         A₁. Again, following the process outlined above, set L only         contains one member, loop 500. Then in this case, set A₂ is the         same as set A₁. In step 423, routing rules 531, 532, 533, and         534 are each identified based on their connections to the         attributes 511, 521 and 523. Following the process above, this         is denoted as set R. Since attribute 522 is referenced by         routing rule 533, then following the process above, set A₃ is         created, containing all the members of set A₂ and attribute 522.     -   Scope marker 555 captures steps 424 and 425. In step 424, the         participants 541, 542, 543, and 544 identified as being         associated to routing rules 530 are considered as part of set         P₁. In step 425, routing rules 531, 532 and 534 are found to         evaluate to TRUE for loop 500 given loop 500's attribute         associations. Since participants 541, 542, and 544 follow these         rules and have the appropriate permissions, these participants         are considered as part of subset P₂ and have visibility of loop         500.         Optional step 425A, that is, lazy loading, is also carried out.         An example routing table is shown below:

TABLE 2 Example Routing Table Under Lazy Loading for the Example of FIG. 9C Loop Routing Rules Routing Attributes Participants 500 531 511 541 500 532 521 542 500 534 523 544

In light of FIG. 7, the attributes, rules, and participants could be as follows:

-   -   Independent Attribute 511: Participant ID of the Initiator     -   Independent Attribute 512: Location “Billy Goat Island” from the         target facet     -   Independent Attribute 513: Creation timestamp “2012-11-29 4:11”     -   Derived Attribute 521: A flag that is set to true if participant         ID of the initiator matches the ID of the owner of location         “Billy Goat Island”.     -   Derived Attribute 522: Determination that a Loop has >5         comments. As this is not the case for loop 500, this attribute         is not associated with loop 500.     -   Derived Attribute 523: A “Needs Escalation” flag that evaluates         to true when the current system time (as referenced from the         back-end processing subsystem 302) less the creation timestamp         (513) is between 5 and 10 hours old.     -   Routing Rule 531: Is Participant ID of the Initiator=3124?     -   Routing Rule 532: “Did the owner initiate the loop?” or more         simply as “IsOwner( )”     -   Routing Rule 533: “>5 comments AND needs escalation”     -   Routing Rule 534: Is “Needs Escalation” true?     -   Participant 541: The loop initiator, and the owner of Billy Goat         Island     -   Participant 542: A senior VP at the business, who “follows” any         loop created by the owner of the property to provide better         customer service.     -   Participant 543: A senior supervisor, who “follows” any loop         that has a running dialog (>5 comments) and needs escalation.     -   Participant 544: A manager, who “follows” any loop that needs         escalation.         Then the lazy loading routing table will look as follows:

TABLE 3 Example Routing Table Under Lazy Loading for the Example of FIG. 9C in light of FIG. 7 Routing Loop Routing Rules Attributes Participants 500 Is Participant ID of Participant ID of The owner of Billy the Initiator = 3124? the Initiator Goat Island 500 “IsOwner( )” Participant ID of Senior VP at the initiator = ID of business, who the owner of “follows” any loop location created by the owner “Billy Goat Island” of the property 500 Is “Needs Needs Escalation A manager, who Escalation” “follows” any loop true? that needs escalation

Changes in Information Available to the System

The process flow of FIG. 9D, beginning with step 440 captures the system's behaviour when the information available to the system is changed.

In step 441, the system identifies that information available to the system has changed, and that this change will affect one or more derived attributes 120 or routing rules 130 (step 442). If one or more derived attributes are affected, the system jumps to step 420, otherwise returns to idle.

In one implementation as shown in FIG. 9E, attributes may be associated or disassociated from loops by the system 302 triggered by a change to the information available to the system. For example, in FIG. 9E, system interface 790 is used to configure escalation rules based on information available to the system such as:

-   -   That no data or attribute of the “action” or “closed” types 791         are associated to a given loop, or     -   That the time elapsed since a given loop was created exceeds 45         minutes (792),

For example, if the time elapsed since a loop was created exceeded 45 minutes, the attribute “Loss Prevention” 793 is associated with the loop, thereby making the loop “visible” to any participant with a routing rule matching “Loss Prevention”, and an attribute and routing rule associating user “Karl” as the new “owner” will be created, thereby triggering notification and reassignment.

In another implementation, these further operations are carried out by participants. In yet another implementation, these further operations are carried out by a combination of participants and a subsystem within the system used to implement the loop, such as back-end processing subsystem 302 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 3.—

Another example to illustrate visibility changes is shown in FIG. 9F, FIG. 9F captures loop 500 following the addition of independent attribute 514 and passing of time. Starting with step 440 from FIG. 9C, the independent attribute 514 was associated to loop 500 by a user using, for example, device 310 from FIG. 3 and also system time has elapsed which both constitute system information has changing and trigger step 441. Steps 420 through 426 from FIG. 9B are evaluated as before, and the results, are as follows:

-   -   Independent Attribute 514: Tag “Kitchen” is associated to loop         500     -   Routing Rule 534: Due to time elapsed, the “Needs Escalation”         condition no longer evaluates to true.     -   Routing Rule 535: “Is Kitchen associated with loop?”     -   Participant 544: Who originally had visibility to loop 500 based         on routing rule 534 no longer has visibility.     -   Participant 545: The “Kitchen” category manager now has         visibility (591) based on their responsibility for all loops         regarding her department.

The lazy loading routing table now looks as follows:

TABLE 4 Lazy Loading Routing Table for the Example of FIG. 9F Routing Loop Routing Rules Attributes Participants 500 Is Participant ID of Participant ID of The owner of Billy the Initiator = 3124? the Initiator Goat Island 500 “IsOwner( )” Participant ID of Senior VP at the initiator = ID of business, who the owner of “follows” any loop location created by the owner “Billy Goat Island” of the property 500 Is Kitchen Kitchen The “Kitchen” associated category manager with loop?

Determining Loop Visibility for Each Participant

FIG. 9G captures the process and FIG. 10 captures the structure of information describing how a system, for a given participant 601, determines the set of loops 630 visible to that participant. After starting at step 450, in step 451 the system first loads the routing rules followed by the participant 601, in this case routing rules 611, 612, and 613.

In step 452, for each routing rule all referenced attributes 620 are identified. For routing rule 611, attribute 621 is identified. For routing rule 612 (a Boolean AND rule), attributes 622 and 623 are identified. For routing rule 613 (a Boolean OR rule), attributes 623 and 624 are identified.

In step 453, for each routing rule and attribute set, all loops associated with that routing rule's attributes are identified. For routing rule 611, loops 631 and 632 are identified. For routing rule 612, loops 633 and 634 are identified.

In step 454, each routing rule is evaluated for the loops identified through associations. For each loop, the routing rules which evaluate to TRUE for the loop given the attribute associations of the loop, is identified. In step 455, the participants' permissions for the loops are evaluated to see whether they are appropriate.

In step 456, the loops which are visible to participant 601 is determined based on the above steps. As shown in FIG. 10, in this example, loops 631 and 632 are visible to participant 601. Loop 633 is not visible to participant 601 because the routing rule 612 is a Boolean AND of attributes 622 and 623. As loop 633 is only associated with attribute 622 and not 623, routing rule 612 is not satisfied for loop 633. Loop 634 is visible to participant 601 for two reasons: firstly because loop 634 meets the Boolean AND condition of routing rule 612 based on its associations to attributes 622 and 623, and secondly because it meets the Boolean OR condition of routing rule 613 based on its association to attribute 623. Loop 635 is not visible to participant 601 because there are no chained associations connecting participant 601 to loop 635. Since the participant has the appropriate permissions for loops 631, 632 and 634 the indicators 691 matching the loops are set appropriately.

In one implementation, the process outlined in FIG. 9G and FIG. 10 is carried out by a subsystem within the system used to implement the loop, such as, back-end processing subsystem 302 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2. Information is stored in tables, which are then stored within a database of the system used to implement the loop, such as database 303 of enterprise system 300 of FIG. 2.

Loop Engagement

In one implementation, participants in a loop can engage with the loop through various media, and utilizing devices, such as, for example, laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablets, or other similar devices. In one implementation, participants can visit a website using a generic URL. A participant can retrieve a loop using, for example, a reference number. The participant can then view the progress of issues within the loop, and add comments or answers where necessary. In another implementation, the participant can visit a website with a specific URL. Then the participant need not enter a reference number. Additional attributes and facets may also be added based on the specific URL used, and the context around the website visit such as the time of the day.

In another implementation, a participant can engage with the loop using an app.

In yet another implementation, a participant can engage with a loop by scanning a 2D bar code, or by using NFC, RFID or Bluetooth or other such communication protocols. The loop can then be viewed by the participant, who may engage by, for example, supplying comments or answers where necessary.

In yet another implementation, a participant can engage with the loop using SMS messaging. In one implementation, the participant sends an SMS message to a generic number. The participant also sends, for example, via the SMS message, a code or reference number to retrieve the right loop. This may be done, for example, when the participant sends the initial SMS message, or later when prompted. An alternative method to find the correct loop is to have the system look up a loop with the same phone number. Then, after a loop has been identified, the participant can add a comment or answer via SMS messages. In another implementation, the participant sends an SMS message to a specific number for the loop. Then the loop is retrieved immediately.

In yet another implementation, a participant engages with the loop using email. In one implementation, the participant sends an initial email message to a generic address. This may be done, for example, within the initial email message, or later when prompted. Then the participant can add a comment or answer a question. In another implementation, the participant sends an email message to a specific address connected to the loop. The participant can, for example, send comments or answers within the body of the email message.

In yet another implementation, a participant engages with the loop from a social networking site such as Twitter®. When the participant enters a microblog update on such a site, in order to engage the loop, the participant may use an appropriate tag such as “@mention” tag or a hashtag. Then the right loop is retrieved and the microblog update is entered. In another embodiment, a participant can engage with a loop via a “private reply” feature such as can be found in, for example, LinkedIn® or Twitter®, to submit confidential information such as a phone number and an email address. In a similar manner, a participant can engage with a loop from a site such as Yelp® or TripAdvisor® by adding comments, creating posts, and using the appropriate tags or keywords.

In yet another implementation, a participant engages with the loop from a chat program or site. The chat program is either standalone or embedded into another program or web site.

In yet another implementation, a participant can engage with the loop by calling a provided phone number. In one implementation the phone number is generic, and the participant retrieves the right loop by, for example, dialing in a reference number when prompted by an interactive voice response system. In another embodiment, the system finds the right loop based on caller ID. In another implementation the phone number is specific to a particular loop. The participant can then enter a comment verbally, which may be further converted to text using a speech-to-text system. In another embodiment, the participant speaks to an operator who adds the message to the loop.

In yet another implementation, a participant can engage with the loop by creating video messages, attaching video recordings, and/or making video conferences. Examples of engagement methods have been described previously.

As mentioned previously, one or more ratings can be assigned to the loop via various media by one or more participants. The participant(s) can assign the ratings using the same methods outlined above to engage with the loop.

An example of a flow for participant engagement is shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B. In step 1101, the loop is initiated by a reviewer from a review site. Then using the above processes, in step 1102, the participants, permissions and routing rules are established. In step 1103, a second participant, who is an employee, then addresses the initiator on the same thread at the review site, by using, for example, an @mention tag, or by using the private reply feature such as previously discussed. Additionally, the second participant may supply a link for the initiator to provide contact information such as a phone number or an email address, or to add any additional comments. In step 1104, the initiator provides more information by, for example, using the link mentioned in step 1103, or by using the previously discussed private reply feature. In step 1105, another participant, different from the second participant provides a comment to the loop. In step 1106, the initiator is notified of this comment via, for example, SMS messaging, and engages with the loop by, for example, sending an SMS message to a specific number. In step 1107, participants engage in further discussion but exclude the initiator by using the appropriate permissions for the messages which form part of the discussion. In step 1108, one of the participants other than the initiator sends a response specific to the loop by, for example, email. In step 1109, the initiator then receives notification of the update by, for example, email, and sends a reply by, for example, email to a specific email address connected to the loop. In step 1110, the participants determine that the issue for which the loop was set up has been resolved and the loop is closed. In step 1111, the initiator receives notification of the closure of the loop, and can choose to provide a final rating on the outcome of the interaction using, for example, a website interface.

Loop Engagement: Hotel and Hospitality

A further example of loop engagement is discussed below and in FIG. 12A with specific reference to the hotel and hospitality industry. In step 1201 a hotel guest at a hotel for an event organized by a meeting planner, initiates a loop from, for example, a web interface similar to that of section 799 of FIG. 7, or by using an app or a kiosk as previously discussed.

In one embodiment, the guest accesses the web interface, for example web interface 12B-04 for “ALPHABET HOTEL CHAIN” as shown in FIG. 12B. In one embodiment, the guest uses a desktop, laptop or mobile device such as a smartphone or a tablet to go to a URL 12B-01 such as that shown in FIG. 12B. In another embodiment, the guest uses an app or goes to a kiosk. In another embodiment, the hotel systems push an access link or application to the guest's smartphone, tablet, desktop computer, laptop computer or other computer device. In yet another embodiment, the guest scans a 2-D bar code to access the user interface. In one embodiment, the guest is presented with one or more choices. These choices include, for example, submitting a request to a service desk, providing a comment, finding out general information about sessions, speakers, rooms, schedules, meetings, other guests or conference attendees, directions, hours for different facilities, bookings, menus or ordering food and beverages, and so on. The choices can also include sending one or more messages to one or more other guests or attendees. An example is presented in FIG. 12B where the user has a choice between submitting a request to a service desk (12B-02 in FIG. 12B), and providing a comment (12B-03 in FIG. 12B), such as shown in FIG. 12B. Then, depending on the choice made, differing further user interfaces are presented to the guest.

In one embodiment, when the user selects “Comment” a user interface such as interface 12C-01 of FIG. 12C is displayed to the user. Then, in one embodiment the hotel guest chooses the location of the hotel property using a drop down menu such as drop down menu 12C-02 of FIG. 12C. In FIG. 12C, property hotel XYZ is chosen. In another embodiment, the location of the property is automatically selected for the user using, for example, automatic geo-location selection based on Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) information, Wi-Fi information or other such information. The location of the property can also be determined by contextual information in how the user accessed the system or parameters of a URL request, such as the specific URL used, the 2-D bar code scanned, URL-parameters embedded in the request string, or other such information.

In one embodiment, the user then selects an internal location within the hotel, using, for example, interface 12D-01. The user selects the internal location using a drop-down menu such as drop-down menu 12D-02 shown in FIG. 12D, or another user control enabling selection of one or more locations. In FIG. 12D, internal location “Restaurant A” is chosen. Similar to hotel property selection, the internal location can be automatically selected based on GPS information, Wi-Fi information, URL used, 2-D bar code, room number, a third-party system look-up or any other such information. In another embodiment, the user's booked room is pre-selected as the internal location automatically. In yet another embodiment, an internal location can have additional information attached to it, for example, an internal location “My Room” can have “room number” and “floor number” as additional information. Such additional information can be selected from a dropdown menu, or inputted manually.

The guest then adds a comment to the loop using comment field 12E-01 of FIG. 12E, and clicks submit button 12E-02 of FIG. 12E as part of the loop initiation process.

In another embodiment, the guest adds a comment to the loop using comment field 12F-01 of FIG. 12F, adds a check using checkbox 12F-02 of FIG. 12F, then clicks the submit button 12F-02 of FIG. 12F. While a particular configuration is shown in FIG. 12F, one of skill in the art would know that within different embodiments; different options can be configured, presented and supported; including arbitrary lists of questions, selections, comment fields, buttons and checkboxes, presented in any order.

In another embodiment, the hotel guest only chooses the location of the hotel property and then adds their comment as part of the loop initiation process.

In another embodiment, the guest attaches a photo, video, audio recording, file, or other such multi-media content to the loop, then clicks the submit button 12F-02 of FIG. 12F.

In another embodiment, the guest completes a series of questions or form, such as a food and beverage order form, guest satisfaction survey, check-out form, hotel services order form, or similar and then clicks the submit button 12F-02 of FIG. 12F. Such series of questions or forms may be supplied by the loop system or by a 3^(rd) party system such as an external survey tool, property management system (PMS), or order management system (OMS).

In one embodiment, once the guest adds the comment, the guest is presented with a “Thank You” message such as in 12G-01 of FIG. 12G. The guest is offered a chance to enter contact details in 12G-01. Then the guest can submit these details using submit button 12G-02 in FIG. 12G.

In a further embodiment, the guest also receives a choice of tags to use. In one embodiment, in the scenario where the guest can choose between a request and a comment, the tags presented depend on the guest's choice. In one embodiment, each of the tags maps to a facet.

In a further embodiment, the one or more interfaces are downloaded to the device and displayed for the user. This way, if the user loses Internet connectivity after entering the website, or mobile app, the user can make selections or use the interface, but the interface will not be transmitted until Internet connectivity is restored. In a further embodiment, if the user does not have an active Internet connection, a warning or information icon such as a triangular symbol containing an exclamation mark is indicated on the screen of the device.

In a further embodiment, in step 1202 once the guest makes a comment, a response will be sent to the initiator displaying the loop details and an indication that a manager will respond. In one embodiment, the response contains further fields for the guest to enter contact information and room number.

Then using the information submitted by the guest, in step 1203, attributes, participants, permissions and routing rules are established. In one embodiment, the mapping of tags to facets is used to establish the attributes, participants, permissions and routing rules. In another embodiment, one of the attributes is a derived attribute, which is a “Needs Escalation” flag that evaluates to true if no one responds to the initiation. One of the routing rules is “Needs Escalation=True.” If this is true, then one or more routing rules specifying participants such as the senior management of the hotel are included.

If the guest is at the hotel for a meeting or an event, then new routing rules which include the meeting planner as a participant is included. In one embodiment, this is performed by the participant receiving the submission as part of step 1202 by using a system interface such as system interface 790 of FIG. 9E. If, for example, no action is taken and the time elapsed has exceed a pre-set time, then an attribute and a routing rule associating a member of senior management and, for example, supervisors of the meeting planner, or the meeting planner, is created. The one or more participants can then engage with the loop using the methods previously discussed.

If the guest is at the hotel for a meeting or an event, and there is more than one meeting planner for the event, typically there is a need for these meeting planners to co-operate with each other, so as to be able to work efficiently and not duplicate work. In a further embodiment, if there is more than one meeting planner attending an event, and a loop associated with the event is initiated, then all the meeting planners attending that event have access to the initiated loop.

In one embodiment, as part of step 1203, the meeting planner has a notification preference set, whereby a notification is sent out if a message is received by an intended recipient, that is, a read-receipt indicator. Another attribute is the timeframe for a loop which conveys the level of urgency and expected completion time for each loop. Staff members can prioritize loops based on the timeframe attributes.

In one embodiment, in step 1204, the manager to whom the loop is directed to, adds a new facet to the loop. Then new attributes and routing rules are established, so as to bring in one or more staff members as participants. This can be achieved using, for example, the interface of FIG. 9E. Then the new participants can engage with the loop using the methods previously discussed.

In yet another embodiment, in step 1205, once the loop is created, a report showing the status of the various loops associated with the hotel is updated. This shows all the open and closed loops in the hotel, whether the loops were positive or negative for a given facet, and so on. An example of such a display is shown in FIG. 12H. Section 12H-01 shows all the closed loops for each category such as “Food,” “Facilities” and “Staff” and section 12H-02 shows all the open loops for each category.

In step 1206, if the loop is resolved to the guest's satisfaction, then it is closed and the report discussed in step 1205 is updated. In step 1207, in one embodiment, the guest is offered a chance to rate his/her experience. In one embodiment, if the guest has made a positive comment, a manager will offer the guest a chance to share their positive experience on a review website such as, for example, TripAdvisor®. In one embodiment, the user is presented with a link to a site such as TripAdvisor®,

The steps outlined in FIG. 12A are not limited to sending comments. For example, in one embodiment, in step 1201 a guest can initiate a loop by clicking on a button to request coffee. Then, the property location and guest room information is, for example, obtained by performing one or more of inspecting a predefined URL, determining from GPS information, retrieving booking information for the guest from a database.

In step 1202, a response is sent to the guest who is the loop initiator, displaying the loop details and an indication that a manager or a facility will respond. In one embodiment, the response contains further fields to enter contact information and a room number. In another embodiment, the response is automatically populated with contact information and a room number based on information obtained in step 1201.

Then similar to above, in step 1203, attributes, participants, permissions and routing rules are established. In step 1204, the manager to whom the loop is directed to will add a new facet to the loop, similar to as described above. The one or more participants can then engage with the loop.

In step 1205, a status update report showing the status of the various loops involving the property is updated, as explained above. In step 1206, if the loop is resolved to the guest's satisfaction, then it is closed and the report discussed in step 1205 is updated. In step 1207, in one embodiment, the guest is offered a chance to rate his/her experience.

In another embodiment, information on initiating loops is provided to guests before they arrive at the property, by, for example, automatically providing a smartphone/tablet app to users upon making a booking, or by providing a URL to users upon making a booking or several days before guests' arrival date. The URL can be provided to guests embedded in an existing email message, SMS message, smartphone/tablet apps, web pages, or other communication mediums.

In a further embodiment, once guests have left the property, they can continue to initiate loops to, for example, retrieve items which were left behind in a room or on the property; or leave comments. In another embodiment, similar loops are created by staff members upon receiving requests from the guests, who are on the property, or about to arrive, or have already left the property.

Initiation of loops in step 1201 is not limited to guests. In a further embodiment, a loop is initiated by a staff member or a member of senior management in step 1201. In yet another embodiment, a loop is initiated by a meeting planner in step 1201. Then the rest of the steps progress as discussed above and in FIG. 12A.

Loop Engagement: Retail

FIG. 13A shows a further example of loop engagement with specific reference to the retail industry. In particular it shows loop engagement for the pickup phase for customers who purchase online and wish to pick-up their purchased items in the store.

In step 1301, a customer starts the pick-up phase using, for example, a link supplied in a confirmation email or in an SMS message, or from an in-store kiosk, or by scanning in a 2D barcode supplied in a confirmation email, or by using a smartphone “app”, or by calling a dedicated telephone number supplied in a confirmation email or SMS message.

Examples of confirmation emails are shown in FIGS. 13B-13D. In FIG. 13B, the customer starts the pick-up phase by clicking on button 13B-02 “Notify Us” within 13B-01. FIGS. 13C and 13D show examples 13C-01 and 13D-01 of a smartphone browser window to start a pick-up phase. In FIG. 13D, optional comment field 13D-02 is also included, in case the customer wishes to add comments. The retail customer clicks on button 13D-03 “Notify Us” to start the pick-up phase.

The customer then enters or says the order number corresponding to the online purchase. In another embodiment, other information such as customer's phone number, address, and/or name can be used to identify the specific purchase.

A loop is then initiated within step 1301, with the retail customer as the initiator. In one embodiment, a response timer begins when the customer initiates the loop by clicking the “Notify Us” button. In another embodiment, the customer is invited to indicate a pick-up time at the store either within the same page or by sending another page.

In a further embodiment, in step 1302 a response is sent to the initiator by a participant other than the initiator, displaying the loop details and an indication that an associate or a manager will respond.

In step 1303, using the information submitted by the initiator attributes, participants, permissions and routing rules are established. In one embodiment, the mapping of tags to facets is used to establish the attributes, participants, permissions and routing rules. In another embodiment, one of the attributes is a derived attribute similar to the “Needs Escalation” flag discussed above in step 1203. If, for example, the customer's indicated pick-up time is approaching, and no action is taken, then an attribute and a routing rule associating a store manager is created. The participants will then engage with loop, by, for example, using the methods detailed previously.

In one embodiment, in step 1304, the store manager to whom the loop is directed to, adds a new facet to the loop. Then new attributes and routing rules are established, so as to bring in an associate as a participant, similar to as explained above in step 1204. Then, a notification is sent to the customer that an associate at the store is handling the pickup. In one embodiment, the associate engages with the loop by sending more messages to the retail customer asking, for example, whether the retail customer has any special preferences or requirements. In one embodiment, this is done through a “chat” window set up with the retail customer for a smartphone, tablet or laptop/desktop. An example of a smartphone chat window 13E-01 is shown in FIG. 13E, where the retail customer has comment field 13E-02 to enter a comment. Previous comments 13E-03 made by the retail customer and associate are also shown in smartphone chat window 13E-01. The customer clicks on the Send button 13E-04 to send comments as necessary.

In another embodiment, similar to as discussed above for step 1205, in step 1305 once the loop is initiated a report showing the status of the various loops involving the store is updated. The report shows all the open and closed loops in the store, whether the loops were positive or negative for a given facet, and so on.

In step 1306, similar to step 1206, if the loop is resolved to the retail customer's satisfaction, then it is closed and in one embodiment, the report discussed in step 1305 is updated. In one embodiment, an email confirmation of a successful pickup is sent to the retail customer.

In step 1307, in one embodiment, the retail customer is offered a chance to rate his/her experience, along with the opportunity to make a comment. If the retail customer has made a positive comment, a manager will offer the customer a chance to share their experience on a review website such as, for example, Yelp™. In a further embodiment, the response time is tracked and measured. In yet another embodiment, a database of customer contact information is collected. In a further embodiment, the loop is integrated with a customer relations management (CRM) system and/or an order management system (OMS)

While particular implementations and applications of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction and compositions disclosed herein and that various modifications, changes, and variations may be apparent from the foregoing descriptions without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. 

1. A system for communicating information between one or more participants of a loop, the one or more participants being associated with a retail organization, the system comprising: one or more processors, the one or more processors to: (i) initiate the loop in response to receiving an input over a network from a first participant of the loop using a first electronic device, the loop being associated with one or more attributes, wherein at least one of said one or more attributes is a derived attribute; (ii) determine, based on one or more first routing rules, a second participant of the loop; and (iii) in response to the determination, allow the second participant to access a first portion of information associated with the loop, using a second electronic device.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first electronic device is a desktop computer, laptop computer, smartphone, kiosk or tablet.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first electronic device is coupled via a network to at least one computer including at least one of the one or more processors used to initiate the loop.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the input is sent using one of: an email message; a short message service (SMS) message; a telephone call; a two-dimensional barcode; or an application running on a mobile operating system.
 5. The system of claim 2, wherein the second electronic device is a smartphone or tablet.
 6. The system of claim 4, further wherein the first participant is a customer of the retail outlet.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein after the loop is initiated, at least one of the one or more participants of the loop engages with the loop, the at least one of the one or more participants of the loop different from the customer.
 8. The system of claim 6, wherein after the loop is initiated, a report comprising the status of one or more loops involving the retail organization is updated.
 9. The system of claim 6, wherein after the loop is resolved, a report comprising the status of one or more loops involving the retail organization is updated; and the customer is presented with a capability to rate the customer's experience. 